The Classical Music Book

146

V

iolinist-composer Niccolò

Paganini’s career as an

international performer

lasted just six years, from 1828 to

1834, but his influence on music

was immense. Setting out to

entertain, he introduced new

playing techniques and raised

the expectations of audiences,

performing feats no one had

achieved before him. He owned

numerous violins, including a

handful by perhaps the greatest

maker of all, Antonio Stradivarius.

Chronic illness, thought to be

Marfan syndrome, left Paganini

looking gaunt. This led to rumors

that he had struck a deal with

the devil in return for his gifts.

His greatest triumphs were

in Paris, which was in thrall to

grand spectacle, new technology,

and brilliance in every field.

Technical innovations

Paganini had studied and honed

his art in Italy. It is thought that

he started composing his 24

Caprices in the early 1800s, even

though he did not publish them

until 1820. In these showpiece

works, and numerous others, he

challenged every aspect of existing

violin technique and introduced

new ideas designed to showcase

the performer’s skills. The pieces

are peppered with breakneck

passage work, double- or even

triple-stopping (bowing two or

three strings at the same time), as

well as new tricks such as left-hand

pizzicato (using the fingers of the

left hand to pluck the strings) and

ricochet (bouncing bowing).

Inspired by Paganini

As a 19-year-old, in 1831, the

Hungarian composer Franz Liszt

heard Paganini in Paris and was

inspired to achieve the same level

of virtuosity on the piano and to

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

The rise of the virtuoso

BEFORE

1733 Pietro Locatelli publishes

L’arte del violino, which inspires

Paganini’s own Caprices.

1740 The violinist Giuseppe

Tartini, known for his fast and

exciting playing, epitomized by

his violin sonata Devil’s Trill,

makes a concert tour of Italy.

AFTER

1834 Hector Berlioz completes

Harold en Italie, a symphony

featuring a solo viola part

composed for Paganini.

1838 Franz Liszt publishes

an early form of his technically

demanding Études d’exécution

transcendante d’après

Paganini (“Transcendental

studies after Paganini”), in

which he transcribed six of

Paganini’s violin caprices for

solo piano.

THE VIOLINIST IS THAT

PECULIARLY HUMAN

PHENOMENON ... HALF

TIGER, HALF POET

24 CAPRICES FOR SOLO VIOLIN, OP. 1 (1824),

NICCOLÒ PAGANINI

Easter Sunday; in the

evening I heard Paganini.

What ecstasy! In his hands

the driest exercises flame up

like bithium pronouncements.

Robert Schumann

US_146-147_Paganini.indd 146 26/03/18 1:00 PM